Ecology & evolution
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Branch of science concerned with interrelationships of organisms and their environments
- ecology
- What is a non-living factor that influences living things?
- Abiotic factor
- What are living factors that influence living thing?
- Biotic factors
- Name two abiotic factors.
-
Light intensity
Temperature range - Name two biotic factors
-
disease
predation - In how many directions does energy flow through ecosystems?
- One
- Chart the path of energy through the ecosystem
-
Sun
photosynthetic organisms
herbivores
carnivores
decomposers - Number of organisms an environment can support
- carrying capacity
- What are some of the limited factors of an environment's carrying capacity?
-
Energy
Water
Oxygen
Minerals
Ability of ecosystem to recycle dead organisms - What is caused by the finite resources in an environment?
- competition among organisms
- What is a material or matter cycle?
- Molecules and atoms are recycled throughout the biosphere
- What are some of the ways that organisms may interact with one another?
-
producer/consumer
predator/prey
parasite/host
scavenge
decompose - What is the number of different organisms in an environment?
- Biodiversity
- What are changes in an ecosystem over time?
- ecological succession
- What is an organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy?
- autotroph
- What is another word for autotroph?
- Producer
- What is another word for consumer?
- heterotroph
- What shows the transfer of energy through an ecosystem?
- Food chain
- What is a food web?
- Series of interrelated food chains
- How is energy lost in the energy flow of an ecosystem or food chain?
- Through heat loss
- What are the main parts of the water cycle?
-
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Collection - What is the loss of water to the atmosphere by the activities of plants?
- transpiration
- What type of molecules are used in photosynthesis to form energy-rich organic sugar compounds?
- Carbon dioxide
- How is carbon dioxide returned to the environment?
- Through cell respiration
- What is an organism capable of making its own food?
- Producer
- What is an organism that eats another organism called?
- consumer
- What is a consumer that eats mostly plant material?
- herbivore
- What is a consumer that consumes primarily animal material?
- carnivore
- What is a consumer that eats both plant and animal material?
- omnivore
- What is a carnivore that kills its food?
- Predator
- What is a carnivore that feeds on already dead organisms?
- Scavenger
- What is a symbiotic relationship?
- Close living association
- What type of symbiosis benefits the parasite at the expense of the host?
- parasitism
- What type of symbiosis benefits both organism?
- mutualism
- What type of symbiosis benefits one organism and leaves the other unharmed?
- commensalism
- What increases the stability of an ecosystem and the chances for greater survival in the face of large changes in the environment?
- Biodiversity
- What are the first organism to reoccupy an area that has been disturbed by a disruption?
- Pioneer organisms
- What is a final stable plant community called?
- climax community
- What is the change of species over time?
- Evolution
- What is natural selection?
- The survival of offspring with certain traits who then reproduce
- What is the change of DNA of an offspring to cause different characteristics than its parents?
- Mutation
- What is variation?
- Differences between groups of organisms of one species
- Explain overproduction
- More offspring are born than can survive
- What is competition in the context of natural selection
- Struggle for survival; number of ind. in a population tends to be stable due to limited resources
- Explain survival of the fittest
- Individuals who survive are the ones who are best suited to the environment due to variations
- How does reproduction relate to natural seclection?
- Variations assist or hinder individuals in survival to reproduction age; pass on genes
- What is speciation?
- Over time, variations may survive, new species may evolve from common ancestor
- When does extinction occur?
- When environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are not sufficient to allow survival
- Give two sources of variation
-
1. Recombining of DNA during mitosis and fertilization
2. Mutation - What is gradualism?
- Theory that evolution is slow and continuous
- What is punctuated equilibrium?
- species remain stable for long periods of time and then, due to a large environmental change, change rapidly in response
- In what era did unicellular organisms orginate?
- Precambrian
- In what era did multicellular naimals and fern-like plants originate?
- Paleozoic
- In what era did birds, mammals, reptiles, and flowering plants originate?
- Mesozoic
- In what era did radiation of birds, mammals, reptiles, and flowering plants occur?
- Cenozoic